Lower Unit Removal on Johnson 225

[phatdaddy]

this is why you change a water pump every year. had one on an older mako do the same thing,
like tsubaki said, keep tapping the wedges a little every day, went out one morning and it was laying in the driveway.

[boatrookie]

That is what I will do and pray that I too will walk out one morning and it be laying on the ground! Thank you all for the information

[Monkey Butler]

Okay, I might be talking out the wrong orifice here but this is more ancient history than modern science.

The key is to use wooden wedges and wait.

Why?

Wood will expand and contract relentlessly with changes in humidity. The Romans, Greeks, and even us Polacks (I think) used this method to quarry rock. Goggle it if you don't believe me.

One thing, a wide metal thingy, like a putty knife blade between the wood and the lower unit case will spread the load and keep the wood from just compressing.

Wood, moisture, wet, dry, rinse repeat.

[boatrookie]

Thanks for the info. I have got some wedges in it now and slowly working with it. The problem is I only have about an 1/8" in. gap right now, so getting something in there is proving to be fairly difficult. I will keep at it though.

[boatrookie]

Ok, so I tried running it with all the bolts out today. I put it in gear back & forth and nothing. I am going to try something else I had an idea about. My question is should the shifter be in forward, neutral or reverse before I disconnect it or does it matter? What I am going to do is put threads in the the bottom of the lower unit where the 4 bolts go in from the bottom (currently not threaded) . I am going to put a piece of metal in between the lower unit and middle section then SLOWLY tighten my new bolts upward pushing against the metal pieces and see if it will push the lower unit down. Any thoughts about this or should I not go this route?

[Monkey Butler]

Sounds like a stroke of genius about using the bolts taht way. I did something sililar to pop the powerhead off of my old Yamaha.

It's certainly less drastic than cutting a window in the midsection and torching the driveshaft in half, which I have only heard about...

[RidgeRunner]

I sacrificed a midsection once to free up Reelapeelin's powerhead. Did save the lower, but that turned out to be toast too, what a PITA. I feel for you, sounds like you have a plan. Saw a guy turn his mota upside down hung by the lower with the powerhead just above the pallet below. I thought he was kinda nuts but it worked out. His theory was the Blaster he was spraying on the driveshaft was running down into the splines and working on the corosion and the powerhead was heavy enough to do the rest.
I always liked hanging the rear of the boat with the flywheel but it requires removal of the powerhead bolts, cherry picker setup and the replacement of the powerhead gasket. Tons more work but gives you lots of pulling power/leverage.